evidencing social action and prevention in kirklees

Evidencing social action and prevention:

Cabinet Office and NEF Roundtable

Fiona Weir, Kirklees CouncilMay 2016

About us• Community Partnerships is part of Kirklees

Council’s Adult Services• Key areas of work are:

– Community investment focused on prevention (jointly with Clinical Commissioning Groups);

– Development support;– Better in Kirklees - ‘social prescribing’ –

supporting people into community activity (now commissioned)

– User/carer involvement.

All work supports communities to support people to be more independent, preventing the need for statutory support.

Overview

Kirklees Council Community Partnerships supports hundreds of community-based projects each year, including many with a mental health and/or community arts focus - including music, singing, drama, craft, film-making and more. Our development and 'micro commissioning' approach aims to create a diverse and vibrant range of community 'prevention' activities in Kirklees, so people can get involved in activities they enjoy, that support their health and well-being, keep them independent, and reduce or prevent their need for support from statutory services. Community Partnerships manager Fiona Weir will lead a discussion about the range of activities on offer, the people who take part, and the potential benefits for individuals, community organisations and commissioners alike.

Key figures (2015-16)

• £1.23M invested in 140 VCO-run community activities/projects • Development support to 89 VCOs • 33,606* hours of community-based activity• Over 4,198* people benefiting weekly• Volunteers giving 291,877* hours • Av cost to commissioners/tax payers approx. £2-3*ppph• Every pound we invest brings an additional £2.80* into

Kirklees in cash or kind for community prevention activities• 527 individuals supported from adult services’ ‘front door’ to

community activity; at least 61% of them eligible for statutory support.

*Provisional

Overview


These figures evidence the activity but not the impact of social action…

Overview


Measuring outcomes and impact

We use these methods:• Storyboards• Case studies• Outcome tools – standardised and simple• Tailored outcome measures, negotiated with groups• Client case management data • Directorate performance data

No ‘one size fits all’. We have found we build a ‘jigsaw’ of impact evidence.

Overview


Storyboards

• Demonstrate impact and outcomes using pictures and words: “Tell us about the difference you make to people’s lives”

• Generally liked by groups• Recognised and used by commissioners • Only thing you need to do to demonstrate outcomes if

your grant is less than £2k per year

https://www.flickr.com/photos/community-partnerships/

• Case studies tell individuals’ stories where there are particularly good ones to tell.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/community-partnerships/

Outcome tools

• We ask groups to choose from a specified set of wellbeing outcomes – eg “People will be more active/more healthy/less lonely after participating than before”.

• Simple-to-use tools are linked to these outcomes• ‘Snapshots’: Baseline and after 6-12 months.• Measure group outcomes rather than individual outcomes• Theoretically allow comparison across projects• In 2015-16, every project receiving more than £2k per year was

asked to use the tools• Unpopular: some groups find them simplistic; others find the

idea confusing.

http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/community/money/fundingforhealthandsocialcareprojects.aspx#

http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/community/money/fundingforhealthandsocialcareprojects.aspx

Overview


Tailored outcome measures

• Linked to the wellbeing outcomes• Negotiated to suit individual projects• All projects over £20K must use these • Groups’ capacity to identify and use these varies greatly• Developing officers’ understanding has also been

challenging• More powerful evidence for the impact of each

individual project, but makes it impossible to compare projects and make generalisations.

Overview


Service data

• Existing data has been very useful, but needs the right skills/understanding to interpret it.

• Case management data system has allowed us to track individuals’ ‘journeys’, and provided some evidence for a reduction of care package and/or greater independence for some individuals supported to access community activity.

• Performance management data allows us to compare levels of service take-up with community investment, and appears to show that take-up falls when/where community activity is developed.

Overview


Challenges

• Needs people who understand what we are trying to investigate AND how to manipulate and analyse the data

• Comparing data across projects has not been possible, for several reasons including the fact that group membership and size varies from week to week

• Some groups have cheated, which undermining the reliability of the data

• Trying to make the tools easy-to-use has made them too simplistic for many

• Storyboards remain the most popular evidence, with both groups and commissioners.

Overview


Next steps

• Use service information to provide the ‘hard’ data• Use storyboards to provide qualitative evidence• Define a new set of outcomes: this is happening

corporately, led by the new Early Intervention and Prevention service

• Further corporate work on outcomes, being clear about outcomes and benefits to communities and organisations

• Negotiate measures and indicators individually with more groups

• Possibly develop more data analysis skills within the team, so we are less affected by other, competing service demands.

To find out more about our work

Photos and storyboards from groups are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/community-partnerships/

Visit http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/communitypartnerships

http://www.flickr.com/photos/community-partnerships/

http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/communitypartnerships

Contact

Fiona Weir,Community Partnerships Manager, Community Partnerships,Civic Centre 1, 4th Floor,High Street, Huddersfield,HD1 2YUTel: 01484 225142Email: [email protected]

Find us on Facebook: KirkleesCommunityPartnerships

mailto:[email protected]

evidencing social action and prevention in kirklees

Government & Nonprofit